We are delighted to share the latest analysis by our research fellow, Esther Brito Ruiz. This publication expounds the impact of sexual and gender-based violence and trauma on the social development of young girls in #AlHol Camp and uncovers the gendered patterns driving the replication of #ISIL´s ideology.

1. crtgroup.org
The Lived Experiences of Children in the Al-Hol Camp:
Systemic Deprivation, Trauma, and Ideological
Indoctrination
/Esther Brito
June 2023

2. ABOUT CRTG WORKING GROUP
The CRTG Working Group is the world's
fi
rst organization dedicated to addressing the involvement of children with
terrorism and violent extremism. We help understand the nature of child involvement with terrorist and violent
extremist actors, support prevention and mitigation efforts.
The CRTG Working Group recognizes that child exploitation in terrorism is an evolutionary outcome of terrorist
tactics and strategy and one of the core elements enabling the long-term survival of terrorist organizations,
spreading violent ideology, and fueling con
fl
ict. We acknowledge that addressing the complex and evolving nature of
the terrorist threat, requires our own adaptation and therefore, we are intentionally forward-looking in our
understanding of children ́s role - as a factor that can exacerbate existing challenges, but also one that can, when
effective intervention measures are implemented and sustained, provide new solutions to current threats that we
confront and help prevent new ones from materializing.
Through a multi-tiered approach, the CRTG Working Group provides unique insights and cross-cutting analysis into
this area, helps shape policies that accommodate both child protection and security concerns through direct,
personal advocacy, and works to address context-speci
fi
c needs, facilitating meaningful and sustainable solutions.
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© 2023 CRTG Working Group
Working Group on Children Recruited by Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups
Web: crtgroup.org
Analysis
JUNE 2023
This report was written by Esther Brito
Non-Resident Fellow
CRTG Working Group

3. I. Introduction 1
II. Deprivation and Violence: Living Conditions of Children in the Camp 1
III. Ideological Transmission in the Camp: From Narratives to Practicalities 3
IV. Gendered Radicalization: The Role of Women and the Experience of Young Girls 4
a. Women as Ideological Transmitters 5
b. Young Girls, Radicalization and Socialization 6
V. Conclusion 7
Contents

4. I. Introduction
Along the expanses of Kurdish-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria, refugee camps have become seemingly
permanent enclosures. Structures holding thousands of women, children, displaced people, and Islamic State (IS)
militants alike are maintained in a state of physical and social limbo — held as sites of containment, regardless of
the parameters of such capture. Among these encampments, perhaps the most well-known is the Al-Hol camp — a
place where life has been de
fi
ned as a “purgatory-like existence”. While the camp was created in 1991 to
accommodate refugees displaced by the
fi
rst Gulf War, its continued operation has now seen those affected by the
1
actions of the Califate reside within its limits. Given the fear of repatriating radicalized individuals and the denial of
return conditions for those displaced in the camp, many of its residents have become formally stateless. Limited
negotiations or punctual returns to countries of origin have not marked a divergence from the pattern of existence
in the camps, where there is little hope or expectation of abandoning the enclosure. Among those existing in this
state of pervasive uncertainty, children remain the most vulnerable to deprivation, violence, and indoctrination.
II. Deprivation and Violence: Living Conditions of Children in the
Camp
The complex nature and sheer dimensions of the camp have made any attempts at alleviating the state of life
within it a signi
fi
cant challenge. In 2022, the Al-Hol held over 53,000 people, an immense majority of them
2 3
children. Those held across the different sub-sections of the camp remain under conditions that are both life-
threatening and degrading — with Human Rights Watch a
ffi
rming them as tantamount to torture. Lacking
4
su
ffi
cient food, clean water, and shelter, minors have been especially vulnerable to disease and mounting violence
driven by scarcity. In a single week, 8 children died in the camp from malnutrition, hypoglycemia, and other
5
preventable and treatable conditions.
While the unlivable conditions in Al-Hol are ubiquitous, the patterns of violence prevalent in the camp remain
gendered — with young boys militarized from a young age and girls suffering widespread violence; including killings
and rape. The perceived militarization of young boys has led soldiers to separate them from their caregivers at
6
Saad NJ. The Al Hol camp in Northeast Syria: health and humanitarian challenges. BMJ Global Health 2020;5:e002491. doi:10.1136/ bmjgh-2020-002491.
1
O
ffi
ce of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2022, November 18). Syria: UN Human Rights Chief condemns brutal killing of two girls, alarmed by sharp rise in violence
2
at Al-Hol camp [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=28044&LangID=E.
Yacoubian, Mona. "Al-Hol: Displacement Crisis is a Tinderbox that Could Ignite ISIS 2.0." United States Institute of Peace. May 11, 2022.
3
Human Rights Watch. "My Son is Just Another Kid: Experiences of Children Repatriated from Camps for ISIS Suspects and Their Families in Northeast Syria." Accessed June
4
2023. https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/11/21/my-son-just-another-kid/experiences-children-repatriated-camps-isis-suspects-and.
Fore, Henrietta. Statement on the Situation of Children. New York. UNICEF. 2022.
5
"MSF report exposes terrible conditions for 53,000 people held in Syria’s Al-Hol camp." Médecins Sans Frontières, November, 7 2022.https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
6
latest/msf-report-exposes-terrible-conditions-53000-people-held-syrias-al-hol-camp.
The Lived Experiences of Children in the Al-Hol Camp 1

5. only around 11 years old, weakening family links and leaving these children unprotected. Relatedly, violence against
girls has remained systemic, with the murder of two girls under 15 — only days after having been raped — further
7
evidencing the precarious realities of children in these centers. According to local accounts, in the days prior to
their deaths, the girls had suffered harassment by groups of radicalized women due to the stigma and victim
blaming associated with having been subjected to sexual violence. Indeed, among young girls, instances of
domestic and sexual violence, forced child marriage, the absence of access to education, and continued threats of
attacks across the camp were highlighted as common.8
The continued detainment of children in these camps has been considered an almost unprecedented humanitarian
and security challenge — with precarity and isolation leading to echoes of IS’s ideology persisting and replicating in
9
these inde
fi
nite enclosures. Children have seen their rights continuously undermined under securitized narratives
where they continue to be villainized and their future put in question. With little external engagement driven to
resolve the ambiguity that residents within the camp face, local o
ffi
cials and NGOs have contended with a lack of
resources, often barely able to provide survival, much less any consistent semblance of services beyond. As such,
10
schooling, psycho-social support, or recreational activities have remained extremely scarce, further compromised
as funding continues to decrease — partially due to donor attention redirecting towards earthquake relief and the
11
war in Ukraine.
Numerous contributions from social scholars analyze how these conditions are inherently destructive — materially,
psychologically, and socially. The lived experience of children in the camp can be said to re
fl
ect what Giorgio
Agamben de
fi
ned as “bare life”. This idea refers to the conditions under which life is devalued to simple survival
12
and allowances are consistently permitted in the exercise of violence and the vulnerability of rights. Children in Al-
Hol contend with conditions under which they suffer harm with little accountability and are held in a state of
continual liminality — with both their present and future uncertain and insecure. Claudia Card similarly invokes the
term social death to account for the ways that communities may be held under circumstances that disallow them
13
from pursuing a future and slowly erode social ties within them. These parameters have signi
fi
cant implications for
the early development of children, who have become keenly aware of their exclusion from protections and a
UNHCR. "Syria: UN Human Rights Chief condemns brutal killing of two girls, alarmed by sharp rise in violence at Al-Hol camp, 18 November 2022." Accessed November 18,
7
2022.
Feghali, Jay. "Gender-Based Violence in Syria: Gender-Based Violence Rapid Needs Assessment." December 2019. Norwegian Church Aid.
8
Lister, Charles. "There Are 13 Guantanamos in the Syrian Desert." Politico. March 27, 2023. Accessed June 29, 2023. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/27/isis-
9
syria-iran-00088783#:~:text=The%20presence%20of%20more%20than,along%20with%20weapons%20and%20explosives.
Ibid at 1.
10
United Nations. "Funding Not Enough to Meet Rising Humanitarian Needs in Syria, Top O
ffi
cial Tells Security Council, as Members Diverge Over Delivery Methods." 9038th
11
Meeting (AM), SC/14897, May 20, 2022.
Agamben, Giorgio. Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995.
12
Card, Claudia. “Genocide and Social Death.” Hypatia 18, no. 1 (2003): 63–79. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3811037.
13
The Lived Experiences of Children in the Al-Hol Camp 2

6. de
fi
ned future. As reported by the International Committee of the Red Cross in their operations in the camp,
14
children often responded to the question of what their dreams were with a simple “I don't know”. This continued
uncertainty and lack of hope are a direct re
fl
ection of the conditions under which these camps are able to exist.
The deep trauma these kids face can be treated by way of increased support and resources, as well as an
immediate action towards relocalization and social integration. This is important to note given that states justifying
the continued enclosure of children point towards their inherent inability to reintegrate — something that has
already been proven false by the multiple programs and lived experience of those that have been repatriated or
15 16
relocated to safe communities where they have
fl
ourished. However, while children can recuperate from the
experiences they have endured, the harm they generate is signi
fi
cant and can condition them to higher rates of
depression, anxiety, and other mental health complications into adulthood if not adequately addressed. Catherine
Malabou, when outlining her concept of destructive plasticity, notes that trauma can transform us in ways that
17
manifest in both profound physical and psychological harm. This only calls further attention to the urgency of
resolving the legal and protection ambiguities under which these children remain, which not only compromise the
most basic tenets of children's rights but also leave them vulnerable to continued violence and instrumentalization
by violent actors.
III. Ideological Transmission in the Camp: From Narratives to
Practicalities
As noted, the abandonment of camp residents to a state of legal limbo has often been shielded in narratives of
domestic security, de
fi
ning even children within these enclosures as unmanageable risks that states are not willing
to engage with. This has created a paradoxical situation where the absence of international commitment to
developing a long-term solution has enabled the rise of conditions that favor the survival of radical ideology within
the camp.
As it stands, Al-Hol now operates as a “massive outdoor prison” — situated inde
fi
nitely, in isolation, and with little
18
social control over the processes unfolding within it. Amidst this context, continued depravations and the
grievances they bring forth further increase criminality and vulnerability to extremism, creating feedback loops.
19
ICRC. "A Lost Generation – Drawings from the Children of Al-Hol, Syria." March 22, 2023.
14
iIbid at 4.
15
Eriksson, Beatrice. "As Women and Children Return to the West from Syrian Camps, Lessons From Sweden." Just Security, December 6, 2022.
16
Malabou, Catherine and Carolyn Shread. The Ontology of the Accident: An Essay on Destructive Plasticity. July 2012. ISBN 978-0-745-65260-3.
17
Ibid at 8.
18
Revkin, Mara R. "When Do 'Closed Camps' Become Prisons by Another Name?" Georgetown University Law Center. Incoming Associate Professor of Law, Duke University
19
School of Law (2022).
The Lived Experiences of Children in the Al-Hol Camp 3

7. Additionally, it enables ideologically motivated individuals and groups to present themselves as the only viable
forward to a digni
fi
ed form of living. This way, material conditions in camps directly favor the pervasiveness of
“messaging, coercion, and enticement” of IS positions. This replicates the ideological echo chambers that IS has
20 21
long used to indoctrinate children, marking refugee camps like Al-Hol as key risk sites for continued radicalization.
IS has long put an explicit focus on the role of children in the pursuit of inter-generational war, and is seeking the
22
echo of their ideological tenets in these camps as a means to drive the recruitment and indoctrination of a new
generation. As Dr. Gina Vale a
ffi
rmed, the fact that minors often suffer continued detention with adult IS
23
supporters only serves to further compound these experiences of deprivation, traumatization, and indoctrination.
However, perceptions of this phenomenon as an unavoidable or irreversible process are a deeply unjust portrayal of
the situation of children in these contexts. As Sonia Khush, Save the Children’s Syria Response Director, stated: “a 4-
year-old boy does not really have an ideology. He has protection and learning needs”. These are the needs that
24
actors concerned with radicalization should be addressing. As camp o
ffi
cials contend with limited resources, the
25
provision of schooling and other developmental activities has suffered. It is the absence and precarity of other
social protections that should be afforded to children that precisely creates a vacuum where ideology becomes one
of the few consistent forces left to mold them — doubly victimizing them in the process by utilizing them and
through the reactions of external actors that blame them for the consequences of the pervasive vulnerability they
experience. Indeed, it is only because these camps engender continued traumatic events for children that the
prescriptive assurances of extremism can consolidate amidst continued uncertainty.
IV. Gendered Radicalization: The Role of Women and the
Experience of Young Girls
Radicalization in the camp manifests in gendered patterns, de
fi
ned by gender segregation and strict gender
26
roles. Boys and girls have been forced to endure adult behaviors and responsibilities — through either
27
expectations of marriage or militancy. This is a relevant concern given that gendered paths toward radicalization
have sometimes been underexplored in research and practice countering violent extremism at the international
28
Vale, Gina. "Women in Islamic State: From Caliphate to Camps." International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 2019. Accessed June 29, 2023. http://www.jstor.com/stable/
20
resrep19621.
Vale, Gina. "Cubs in the Lions’ Den: Indoctrination and Recruitment of Children Within Islamic State Territory." ICSR, King’s College London, 2018.
21
Vale, Gina. "Gender-Sensitive Approaches to Minor Returnees from the So-Called Islamic State." 2018.
22
Ibid.
23
VOA. "In Syria Camp, IS Ideology Molds Forgotten Children." June 03, 2023.
24
Ibid at 1.
25
Ibid at 22.
26
Ibid.
27
NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism. "Gender and Counter-Terrorism: Enhancing Women’s Role and Empowering Women." Workshop Report. Ankara,
28
Turkey, September 22-24, 2020.
The Lived Experiences of Children in the Al-Hol Camp 4

8. level. Taking a gender-sensitive approach allows us to better account for the realities of ideological endurance in
the camp — particularly contending with the role of women as ideological transmitters and young girls as subject
to speci
fi
c patterns of radical socialization as a result.
a. Women as Ideological Transmitters
Despite the fact that descriptions of the Al-Hol camp have positioned women within it as either the most enduring
vestiges of IS fanatism or as victims purely instrumentalized by their husbands, neither of these narratives is a
realistic assessment — the social reality within the camp is much more complex and harder to ascertain. According
to camp sources, there is a signi
fi
cant amount of disillusionment among its residents. Many feel that they were
used by IS’s leadership for their political goals with little care for their well-being or future. Estimates from these
sources suggested that only 30 percent of residents remained committed to the cause. This has led to tensions
29
and transformations of the practical social norms in the camp, with both push and pull factors competing for the
adaptation or survival of extremist interpretations of Islamic rules.
On the one hand, groups of radicalized women have made efforts to maintain IS ideology and norms — even
forming religious police units known as “Hesba”. These units seek to reinforce IS norms and enable ideological
30
transmission through intimidation, threats of violence, and punishment for deviant behavior — both against camp
residents and international aid workers. While abuse by radicalized women in the camp has been widely reported —
including branding as in
fi
dels and threats — it becomes important to engage further with how evolving dynamics of
agency, scarcity, and ideology intervene in the camp setting to more realistically assess the existing level of
radicalization among adults and its impact on young girls.
There have been signi
fi
cant debates both regarding the motivations and relative power of ideologically devout
women in the camp. In terms of local in
fl
uence, while attacks have been noted, some residents pushed back
against the belief that pro-IS women are a signi
fi
cant danger within the camp, a
ffi
rming that they are intimidated
31
by prison guards not to exercise open acts of violence. In terms of their strict adherence to the tenants of IS
ideology, some studies pointed towards a pragmatic understanding of why some of these women might express
pro-IS messages — particularly as a means to secure
fi
nancial resources from international supporters. This
generates incentives to perform acts of militancy, share extremist messaging, and accuse other residents of non-
religious adherence. These considerations are interesting to qualify the cohesiveness of extremist women within
Mironova, Vera. "Life inside Syria's al-Hol camp." Middle East Institute, July 9, 2020. Accessed June 29, 2023. https://www.mei.edu/publications/life-inside-syrias-al-hol-
29
camp.
Soz, Jiwann. "The Crisis of Female Jihadists in Al-Hawl Displacement Camp." Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. July 14, 2022.
30
Ibid at 29.
31
The Lived Experiences of Children in the Al-Hol Camp 5

9. the camp. However, in terms of considering the effect of this socialization on the radicalization of children, we
must assess the danger even performance represents. While not all women appearing to retain an extremist
alliance might indeed follow that belief system, they do have an impact on the realities of children’s lives and
behaviors within the camp. This impact can be seen particularly in terms of creating a climate of fear that may
favor ideological adherence and the role of mothers in the indoctrination of children through their roles as cultural
transmitters.
b. Young Girls, Radicalization and Socialization
Connecting the experience of older women in the camp to the processes of socialization and radicalization of
young girls helps evidence the gendered patterns that ideological transmission follows. Mainly, we can consider the
way in which trauma, cultural and familial expectations, and fear coalesce to shape the risk and harm of
radicalization for young girls.
Forms of trauma shaped by gendered social relations may impact young girls’ vulnerability to radicalization. As
noted, the situation of scarcity and social con
fl
ict in the camp has led to instances of domestic and sexual violence
against young girls — prevalent due to the absence of safe spaces for both, women and children in the camp. The
weight and impact of cultural and familial expectations can also create conditions that favor a path towards
trauma — reinforced through child marriage. The effects of these traumatic experiences profoundly shape the
social development of young girls, making them need support networks and any sense of safety even more
profoundly — and thus be vulnerable to co-optation. This vulnerability is further worsened by a climate of victim
blaming after young girls are subjected to severe forms of violence.
Relatedly, the continued climate of blame and fear imposed by radicalized women and other violent actors may
lead young girls to seek to adopt — or at the very least adhere to — extremist principles of behavior and messaging
as a means of protection. As such, fear of violence becomes a tool for the spread of IS ideology among young girls
— with resistance to this positioning incurring the risk of targeting. The noted absence of access to education or
external in
fl
uences further positions young girls as especially vulnerable to this ideological indoctrination by
women in the camp — particularly due to their traditional role as the community’s cultural transmitters.
Ultimately, we can observe speci
fi
c gendered patterns of risk that predispose young women in the camp to seek
safety or conformity in extremely limited conditions — sometimes
fi
nding that support in radicalized mindsets and
the communities that accompany them.
The Lived Experiences of Children in the Al-Hol Camp 6

10. V. Conclusion
Children in the Al-Hol camp are subject to dire material and social conditions, deprived of the basic services and
support needed for their development, and lacking agency over their participation in radicalized spaces — all the
32
while being blamed and securitized as a result.
Minors in the camp should be regarded as victims and afforded all the rights and protections they are assured
33
under international law — speci
fi
cally the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the short term, gender-
responsive approaches that recognize and respond to the speci
fi
c needs of both boys and girls in the camp and
34
the gendered social pathways toward radicalization we see at play should be implemented. In the medium and long
term, the only sustainable solution to the current state of social crisis is for governments to repatriate the
children and their families to their states of origin — or at the very least, to facilitate rehabilitation and
35
reintegration by providing adequate psychological, social, and medical support to rebuild their lives and childhood.
Existing efforts demonstrate that these children can thrive and heal from the consistent trauma they endure when
given the opportunity, and every denial of their rights serves as a manner of complicity by states in denying their
responsibilities for protection.
Cook, Joana. "Assessing the Implications for Children in Violent Extremist Families." International Centre for Counter-Terrorism Netherlands.
32
United Nations. "Syria: UN Human Rights Chief condemns brutal killing of two girls, alarmed by sharp rise in violence at Al-Hol camp." O
ffi
ce of the High Commissioner for
33
Human Rights. November 18, 2022.
Sandi, Ouafae. "A
ffi
liated with ISIS: Challenges for the Return and Reintegration of Women and Children." UNDP, 2022.
34
Human Rights Watch. "Revictimizing the Victims: Children Unlawfully Detained in Northeast Syria." By Jo Becker and Letta Tayler. January 27, 2023.
35
The Lived Experiences of Children in the Al-Hol Camp 7